Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Thrice is Nice!


This crazy and unpredictable season continues to deliver!  The scoring finally returned after a 3 week dip (946 total points scored with four teams scoring triple digits), and my Scottish Rebels barely edged sprouts by one point to claim the Week 11 Weekly High Score Prize, 122-121!  How my team did it is one of the oddest I’ve seen, as my scoring leader was my tight end, Zach Ertz, with 20 points, and my lowest scorer, Arizona Defense, had 11 points.  The rest of my players scored 18, 17, 15, 14, 14 and 13.  No outstanding performances, just solid all around production.  Sprouts was on the other end of the spectrum with an amazing 81% of his 121 points (99 points to be exact) came from just three players: Jonathan Taylor (52), Justin Jefferson (31) and Diontae Johnson (16).  This is a crazy season indeed!  The Week 11 High Score Prize marks my 3rd one for the season, and my Rebels are still the only team to claim multiple prizes so far this season.

The other games this week clarified the playoff picture a little bit… there is one team in for sure and one team out for sure but the other 8 teams are still alive and vying for a spot.  Much more on that below.  Plus this week we hand out a team’s first Best Bench in over a season and a half.  Let’s go!


BIG TIME

  • Johnathan Taylor, RB – sprouts – 52 pts – Taylor had an absolute gem of a game, going for 185 yards and 4 TD’s on the ground, plus 19 yards and another TD receiving.  He joins an elite group of players who have surpassed 50 points in a single week.  Prior to this week, there were only six other players since 2007 to accomplish the feat, and this is the highest single week score since Derrick Henry had 50 back in Week 14, 2018.
  • Justin Herbert, QB – Young Guns – 37 pts – Herbert had a great day, throwing for 382 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception, plus also ran 9 times for 90 yards!  Herbert now ranks as the 5th highest scoring QB in fantasy.
  • Aaron Rodgers, QB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 35 pts – The crotchety one is still getting it done, throwing for 385 yards and 4 TD’s, albeit in a losing effort against the Vikes.  This moves Rodgers to 9th place among QB’s in scoring this season.
  • Austin Ekeler, RB – Joe’s Pats – 35 pts – What a night for Ekeler, racking up 4 total TD’s (2 on the ground, 2 through the air) and 115 total yards (50 rushing, 65 receiving).  
  • Justin Jefferson, WR – sprouts – 31 pts – Jefferson was a monster on the field, gaining 169 yards plus two TD’s!  He should have had a 3rd TD, but was ruled down at the one.  
  • Jalen Hurts, QB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – In the “I Didn’t See This One Coming” category, we have Jalen Hurts-#1 scorer in all of fantasy.  He has 242 points on the season, 2 more than Tom Brady.  (To be fair Tom has had his bye week and Hurts has not, but still.)


COME ON MAN!

  • Brandin Cooks, WR – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – When you start a Houston wide receiver, you are really only hoping for 3 points, so actually this wasn’t that bad.
  • Tyler Bass, K – Sofa King American – 1 pt – A lone extra point was all Bass had to offer this week.  Oof.
  • Tee Higgins, WR – Young Guns – 1 pt – Bad day for Higgins, catching just 2 passes for only 15 yards.
  • Younghoe Koo, K – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – Falcons were shut out by New England, so Koo never even had a chance.
  • Randy Bullock, K – sprouts – 0 pts – Made an extra point and missed an extra point.  Double oof.
  • Buffalo, DEF – Young Guns – 0 pts – The Bills were absolutely worked by the Colts, giving up 41 points while recording only one defensive stat: a single 4th down stop.


PLAYOFFS? DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

Only two weeks left of regular season play and nine teams are alive in the playoff picture.  The magic number for making it in for sure is 7, with three teams already at or above that number and another four teams capable of reaching that number.

Already Secured:

  • Scottish Rebels – The top spot in the North Division has been secured by my Scottish Rebels with 8 wins. Joe’s Pats is the only team capable of also getting to 8 wins in the North Division, but the division record tie breaker would go in my favor.

In Control of Own Destiny:

  • American BadAss – Win 1 game to assure a Top 2 spot in the South Division.
  • sprouts – Win 1 game to assure a Top 2 spot in the South Division.
  • Joe’s Pats – Win 1 game (especially the Week 13 showdown with Coors Light Drunk Guys)
  • Young Guns – Win 1 game to qualify, or there’s even still a path to the top spot in the South with 2 wins plus 2 losses from American BadAss and 2 losses from sprouts.
  • Coors Light Drunk Guys – Win final 2 games, or win 1 game and it will come down to tie-breakers.
  • Vandelay Industries – Win final 2 games, or win 1 game and it will come down to tie-breakers.

Needing Some Help:

  • Attack of Mahomes – Win final 2 games plus 2 losses from Coors Light Drunk Guys and two losses from Vandelay Industries and one loss from Sofa King American.  Would still probably come down to tie-breakers.
  • Sofa King American – Win final 2 games plus 2 losses from Young Guns and two losses from Coors Light Drunk Guys and two losses from Vandelay Industries and 1 loss from Attack of Mahomes.  And again, it would probably come down to tie-breakers.

The Way Is Shut:

  • Big Sack No TD’s – Unfortunately, there is no path to the playoffs.

With as tight as the standings are, there is a scenario which could play out where six teams finish with a record of 6-7, which would make for the most epic tie-breaking of all time.  Here is a reminder of the tie-breakers used in determining final regular season standings:

Divisional standing ranking
Overall record
Division record
Head-to-head record
Points scored
Coin flip

Wildcard standing ranking/tiebreakers
Overall record
Head-to-head record
Points scored
Coin flip

Division record doesn’t matter for wildcards so both wildcard teams can come from the same division.  Also, the final standings of teams in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th will be determined at the end of Week 13.

BEST BENCH
In 2019 the lowest Best Bench winning total was 30, while the average was 39.8.  Last season, the lowest total was 25 and the average was 38.6.  But this season prior to this week there were already five Best Bench winners with totals lower than 25.  And this week’s winner is another historic low at only a 17 point improvement possibility!  There were four teams this week with optimal line-ups… crazy!
But, there always has to be a winner, and for the first time since Week 4 of 2020, claiming his first Best Bench this season, Week 11 goes to… Big Sack No TD’s!  Jens needed to make just one roster change to get the 17 points – K. Cousins for R. Tannehill +17.

Get those waiver claims in and get ready for Week 12!  Happy Thanksgiving!
TURKEY!!!


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